Strategy Mirrors Edisonian Belief in Creating Products Directly Aligned With Customer Needs, Driving Innovative, Energy-Efficient and Cleaner Technology Across Company
Today GE (NYSE: GE) announced that it will invest more than $1 billion on cleaner technology research and development (R&D) for 2007, drawing closer to its pledge to invest $1.5 billion annually on ecomagination R&D by 2010. One of four GE ecomagination commitments originally made in 2005, R&D investment has reached a total of more than $2.5 billion since the program’s inception.
“GE’s ability to reach our ecomagination goals requires a deep commitment to investing in innovative, leading-edge research, while expanding our partnerships with customers, universities and labs,” said Lorraine Bolsinger, vice president, ecomagination, GE. “Ecomagination consistently delivers for our customers, and crossing the $1 billion mark for R&D investment will be further evidence of growing momentum.”
Launched in May 2005, ecomagination is GE’s commitment to imagine and build innovative technologies that help customers address their environmental and financial needs and help GE grow. Now in its second year, ecomagination has a robust portfolio of more than 45 energy efficient and environmentally advantageous products and services.
Today’s announcement was made by Lorraine Bolsinger while she was onsite at GE’s Global Research Center (GRC) in Niskayuna, NY to host a day-long briefing session on the innovative portfolio of ecomagination products, which are currently being developed at the facility.
Research and development funding for ecomagination is shared between GE’s four GRCs (Schenectady/Niskayuna, NY, Shanghai, Munich and Bangalore) and each of GE’s major businesses. The GRCs serve as dedicated labs for long-term R&D commitments and work to develop a broad technology portfolio to help meet a wide-range of energy and environmental challenges.
GE researchers are working on a broad array of technology initiatives that cut across GE’s business portfolio. These projects include:
- Renewable energy — exploration of advanced concepts in wind, solar and biomass to improve the economics and availability of these clean, renewable energy sources
- Advanced gasification technologies — for GE’s Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) System to increase plant efficiency, lower emissions and make these systems carbon capture ready
- Fuel efficiency — research in composite materials, advanced aerodynamics, turbine alloys and advanced coatings and combustion systems to improve the fuel efficiency and overall performance of present and future generations of aircraft engines and electric power generation systems
- Hybrid systems — research to support the development of the next generation hybrid locomotive
- Lighting — several energy efficiency initiatives such as Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) to reduce our energy consumption
- Water — programs to provide more affordable, less energy-intensive solutions to water purification and re-use that enable an increase in the quantity and quality of clean water around the globe.
“The ecomagination program’s significant commitment to R&D means that our scientists can work on creating a cleaner, more sustainable future every day,” said Mark Little, senior vice president and director, GE Global Research. “Research teams and business units around the globe are constantly exploring new ways to create renewable and energy-efficient initiatives, cleaner coal technology, water use and purification initiatives, carbon capture technology and transportation initiatives.”
GE is committed to imagine and build innovative technologies that help customers address their environmental and financial needs and help GE grow. Since its inception in 2005, more than 45 ecomagination-certified products have been brought to market with revenues reaching $12 billion and orders and commitments soaring past $50 billion.